The Great Escape: 2009

Planning Ladakh Trip

The Plan

Year 2009, so far hasn't been very good for the economy but turned out to be exciting for us. Our company, in order to cut down expenses, forced 5 compulsory leaves per quarter on every employee. It was the 3rd last week of May and i had no idea of how to utilize my leaves. One day, I was having dinner with my room mate while watching a movie on Set Max. My room mate and i both are bike lovers. He owns a 'Bullet' and i have a 'Pulsar 220'. We were enjoying the movie and trying to plan a bike trip to some colder place, away from the heat of Delhi. Either it was the movie effect or a fantasy, he said 'Ladakh'. While recalling, that one of my friend had the time of his life during a similar trip, i said 'Yes'. Some say that don't take decisions when you are emotionally high or low. But this was going to be an exception. We were very excited and started to plan the trip.

Next day, i shared the idea with my friends in office and within minutes 3 more people joined our group. Everyone started to research about the route, stuff to carry, bike repair, etc. The name of the mail thread was 'Leh Trip'. For first 2-3 days every hour a reply would come. Some non-bikers were simply kept in cc to calm their curiosity. Our plan was to go in the last week of May and extend till 1st week of June. Everything was going fine till i had a minor bike accident, good enough to cancel my trip. Next day, i went to office only to inform that i wouldn't be able to recover till the planned dates. I was surprised that i was not the only one saying 'No'. Out of five, one was overloaded with work, one had told his parents and the answer was an obvious 'No', and the third one was me. The two members who were left, also lost the enthusiasm and the trip was cancelled in a day. The mail thread was down. Everyone was again involved in the routine life.

June came, and my last quarter leaves were wasted thinking about the cancelled trip. By 2nd week of June, i had almost recovered from my injuries and started to think about ways to expense this quarter's leaves. The answer was pretty easy. This time, the group consisted of only 3 people and the period was 2nd week of July. The mail thread was alive again but with fewer members. Three of us started preparing for the trip, but how could we forget "Murphy's Law". Bad luck strikes when you don't want it to. With only one week remaining to the trip, my room mate had to cancel his trip because of personal reasons. Initially, we started with two and now we were again left with two members. This time we didn't cancel the trip and decided to go as per the plan. So, it was my friend 'Nikhil' and I who were finally going to the trip, which was going to be etched in our memories forever.

Ladakh Trip Preparation

Preparation

We were concerned with 3 things - detailed itinerary, items to carry and bike repair. We had 10 days and wanted to make most out of it. It was decided that we will transport our bikes back to Delhi from Jammu by courier. To save more time we were thinking to start our journey from Manali and transport the bikes till there. But the idea didn't workout because the courier service didn't have an office in Manali and it would take a long time for them to arrange through a 3rd party.

In this 10 days of period we wanted to include all possible places such as Sonmarg, Srinagar and Gulmarg. When we started planning the itinerary, we realized soon that everything is not possible in 10 days, especially when i hadn't driven bike continuously for more than 2 hours and the number of unknown factors were many - bad roads, bad weather, mountain sickness and bike breakdown. Moreover, we won't be able to enjoy much if we keep on driving. So, we dropped the idea of visiting places in Jammu and Kashmir regions, although we would be crossing them. Including J&K might have also diluted the Ladakh experience.

We made a long list of items to carry and started collecting them 3-4 days before the trip. I bought Adidas shoes thinking that i would be able to use them for jogging after the trip. It was a very bad idea to buy those shoes for a trip like this. We also bought saddle bags to carry all the stuff. I got my bike serviced and essential parts replaced. Nikhil had converted his Apache's tyres to tubeless. We were ready for the trip in all sense.

Noida to Ambala

Day 0 - 3rd July

The day, we have been waiting for had come. At 5.00 PM we started from our office parking. Our bikes, loaded with all stuff were looking brand new, unaware of their future condi

tion :)

It took around 1.5 hours to cross Delhi. After that the traffic was very less and the roads were excellent. On a flyover after Panipat i easily touched 125 kph. We were taking breaks of 15-20 min every hour to relax our backs and have something to drink or eat. After dark, when the headlights were on, i started to feel a pinch effect on my forearms. I thought it's a drizzle. A couple of minutes later some meshy liquid started appearing on all over my helmet shield. It was not rain, but an infinite army of tiny insects which was flying towards the light and getting crushed after an impact with the helmet. I could feel the survivors inside my ears and on my face. I had to switch off the lights and used them judiciously till we reached Kurukshetra.

By 9.30 PM, we reached Ambala, and decided not to proceed till Chandigarh. We took a room near the flyover and had dinner at a Dhaba. After dinner we went to bed at 11 PM. Within one hour we managed to get a good sleep.

Day summary: Noida - Ambala, 4.5 hrs, 225 km.

Ambala to Solang Valley

Day 1 - 4th July

We left Ambala at 8 AM and headed for Chandigarh. The road was superb and it didn't take more than 40 min. to reach there. We were searching for a place to have breakfast. We crossed many sectors of Chandigarh but couldn't find any market which was open. The irony was that liquor shops were all open in the morning. I don't know if Mohali was in the route, but we finally had Parathas in Mohali. After a good breakfast, we left for Ropar. The roads were good. A few km after crossing Ropar, roads were never straight. We had entered the mountains. I had never driven on curvy roads before. It was fun to drive up and down the hills. We were also stopping for pics. In the below pic i had difficulty in focusing on Nikhil :)

We crossed Bilaspur and stopped at Sundernagar for lunch. The route after Sundernagar was beautiful. All the time a river was flowing with us.

There was also a 5-6 km long tunnel between Kullu and Manali. We reached Manali at 6 PM. I filled my tank there and couldn't believe that my bike had given a mileage of 45. Manali seemed a very crowded place to me, flooded with tourists. Our plan was to spend night with our colleagues in Solang Valley, which was 10 km away from Manali, on the way to Rohtang Pass. We took some shots before starting the ascent.

The ascent from Manali to Solang valley was very steep. It was around 7 pm and we were the only ones who were going in that direction, whereas everyone else was returning from Rohtang. After ~10 km, there was a left turn to Solang valley. We reached there and enjoyed campfire with our friends. The scenery in night from the valley was spectacular. I captured some good shots in the night.

Day summary: Ambala - Ropar - Bilaspur - Kullu - Manali - Solang Valley, 11 hrs, 370 km

Solang Valley to Darcha

Day 2 - 5th July

We started very late from Solang Valley at ~ 10 am. The road to Rohtang was in very bad shape. There was a traffic jam also, because BRO (Border Roads Organization) was repairing the roads.

From Solang, Rohtang was only 40 km, but it took 2 hrs to reach there. We stopped at Rohtang for half an hour. It was filled with SUVs, horses and people selling long black boots.

Rohtang is the last place to visit for most of the tourists. They generally spend half of the day there and come back to Manali. After crossing Rohtang, we were going down hill and the roads started to deteriorate further. We had to stop at couple of places for directions. I remember a signboard on which there was no sign. After asking BRO people, we took the left turn from there. The right one was going to Chandertal.

On our way to Keylong we saw an oil tanker almost completely submerged in water. We don't know how it got there.

We reached Tandi and filled our tanks. This time mileage was 33. Tandi is the last petrol pump before Leh, which was still 380 km ahead. Despite of all advice we decided not to carry extra fuel with us. It was a right decision. Even if my bike would have given a mileage of 30 till Leh, i wouldn't need extra fuel. Doing mileage calculations on the way proved useful for us.

We reached Keylong at 3 pm and had our lunch. After Keylong roads were in pathetic condition for most of the time. We had planned to stay at Jispa. 2-3 km before Jispa, i saw some guest houses, but i was waiting for the 0 km milestone, which never appeared. Finally we stopped, a few hundred meters after Jispa. There were no accomodation sort of things available there. We didn't want to go back, so we proceeded for Darcha, 6 km away from Jispa.

We reached Darcha at 6 pm and easily got a room. When i asked for the toilets, people started smiling. Pointing their fingers towards the river, they said, it's all yours. We had the fun next morning :)

Darcha is a very small place surrounded by mountains from all sides. I took some pictures of the moon and the mountains.

Day summary: Solang valley - Rohtang pass - Keylong - Darcha, 8 hrs, 140 km

Darcha to Pang

Day 3 - 6th July

Last night dinner forced me to wake up at 6 am. I explored the riverside in search of solitude :)
My stomach was not feeling good, still i had parathas in breakfast. Nikhil didn't eat anything for the same reason. We left Darcha at 8 am. We had no idea that this day was going to be the toughest and one of the most beautiful day in the whole trip. Roads were very good after Darcha. We stopped at 'Deepak tal'. The scene was simply awesome.

Roads were more or less good but very often a large stream of water would flow across the roads. Water flow and the stones would make it difficult to cross.

I covered my shoes with polythenes to avoid the freezing water, but got stuck in the middle of the flow. I had to change my shoes. I tied the wet ones to the bike. I remember that after this instance, every 2 hours for the next few days, i had to repeat the above procedure of switching shoes. I wish i could have water proofed the part below my knees.

The way to Baralacha La was full of snow. I think maximun snow we saw was at Baralacha La only. At one point both sides of roads had 6-7 m high walls of snow.

The above scene is similar to a shot in a song of 'Jab We Met' movie. Just across these snow walls was 'Suraj tal'. It was marvelous.

The sky was crystal clear and mountains completely covered with snow.

We couldn't stop for long at the pass because of the sub-zero temperature. After crossing Baralacha La, we had to stop twice before Sarchu, because the roads being cleared. Once we could make our way from the sides.

We reached Sarchu and i got time to dry my socks. We had lunch there. I didn't learn the lesson from the dinner at Darcha and again ate Dal-chawal in Sarchu. I paid the price as soon as i reached Pang :) Maggi emerged as a life saver for Nikhil for the next few days. Sarchu was nothing but a bunch of 3-4 tents.
It was not more than 30 min after leaving Sarchu, that we had to wait for BRO to repair a broken bridge.

It took 1 hour for them to repair the bridge. Till we were driving we didn't face any breathing problem, but that 1 hour stay became very difficult for us. It was not more than 10 min after crossing that bridge, we came across a tumbled truck on the middle of the road.

We somehow managed to get away from the left side of the truck. All 4 wheelers were stuck on both sides of the truck. We were the first ones to cross that truck and had been asked by the people to inform the check post at Pang, which was 50 km away, to send some help. If the road is not cleared, people had no option but to spend night there.

We moved on towards Pang and were circling around the Gata loops.

We crossed Nakee La and started our descent. I was ahead of Nikhil, unaware of what was going to happen with me. To avoid a pothole filled with water, i slightly turned the handle towards left and applied brakes while lowering the gear. Next second, I was on the road under the bike, trying to figure out what happened. The worst part was that the gear foot rest of my bike was broken.

Leh was 200 km away and I had no idea how to fix this. I thought that this could be the end of my trip. We knew that we won't be able to fix this before Leh. Idea of tying the foot rest with ropes didn't work either. With no one around, we were helpless there.

After half an hour i decided to continue the journey with my left foot hanging in air. I tried to support my leg on the half inch of metal left at the joint. But any small bump on the road was enough to let my leg easily go off the support. Switching gears had also become a big pain for

me.

We moved forward and crossed Lachang La. Roads were not good till Pang and we had to go down the hills. We reported at the Pang checkpost and informed about the truck accident. They already knew about the accident. I think they got the news on wireless because no one had crossed us till there.

We reached Pang at 5 pm and decided t

o spend the night in tents. We were completely exhausted after the eventful day and wanted to take rest. Before entering into the tents, I wanted to check my bike's condition. Each of the tyres had a nail in it. I didn't bother much about it and went inside the tents. In dinner i had Maggi to eat and 'kawa' to drink. Kawa helped to warm up the body.

I went to bed at 8 pm, thinking that the day is finally over now. But the worst was about to come. We had no idea that Pang is an altitude of ~15600 feet. Nikhil and I both were having trouble in breathing, although we had taken Diamox tablets in the morning. Nothing seem to be working at that moment. We were only able to take very short breaths. Whenever i tried to take a deep breath, i felt slight pain in my chest. I couldn't catch sleep for more than 30 min at a stretch. At ~ 2 am i woke up suddenly and felt giddy for 5-10 min. I was helpless and didn't know what to do. I just tried to relax and control my breath. After some time i was normal and tried to sleep.

Life is not easy there. People living there know the value of life. There is no vegetation and farming. People rely on supplies from distant places. People can't make any permanent set up because everything is covered by snow in winters and many areas are avalanche zones. They live for 4-5 months and spend rest of the time at lower altitude places. Tourists are the source of livelihood for them in this period. They warmly welcome every tourist and offer food and shelter. Only people who stay at high altitude areas during most of the time in a year is Indian Army. They are doing a commendable job. One has to leave the city life and experience the mountains to feel the difference.

Day summary: Darcha - Baralacha - Sirchu - Pang, 9 hrs, 160 km

Pang to Leh

Day 4 - 7th July

In the morning I was feeling much better. My stomach was also stable by now. After breakfast, i checked the tyre pressure in my bike. Because of the nail, the pressure in front tyre was very low. We carried the tubeless puncture kit with us, but didn't have the foot pump. Actually, we had arranged a foot pump from our friends, but didn't carry it because of its size and weight. Anyways, we were lucky that a puncture mechanic was available there. He repaired the front tyre puncture and we were ready to leave Pang by 9.30 am.

First 40 km after Pang is Moore Plains. In Nikhil's words, it's like a thousand lanes highway where you make your own roads :)

When we entered the plains there was no sign of roads. We started driving
wherever resistance was least. 40-50 min later we found ourselves in the middle of 7-8 inches high mud and it became impossible to drive in that.

Somehow we managed to cross that and drove towards left and found roads there. After

Moore plains,

we reached Tanglang La. Roads were very bad before and after the Tanglang La.

Roads started to improve after descending 15 km from the pass. We reached Rumtse and took rest for 30 min. Both of us had Maggi in our lunch there. After Rumtse to Upshi and till Karu, the scenery was terrific. Every mountain was of different shape and different colour. We enjoyed the ride and took many pictures.

After Karu, it took only 50 min to reach Leh. We had a feeling of achievement when we reached Leh. The ride for the last 2 days had been very challenging and i was considering myself lucky to reach Leh in a single piece :) We checked in a hotel and took rest for a while. As it was already 4 pm, DC office was closed and we couldn't take permits for Pangong and Nubra that day.

Leh was looking a very peaceful city to me. We didn't roam much in Leh that day. I wanted the foot rest of my bike fixed first before anything else. So, we went to a mechanic straightaway. Welding the footrest and replacing the whole part didn't work out to be good solutions. Finally, a creative idea of the mechanic worked very well. See the picture below :) He drilled a hole and fixed a long nut-bolt in place of the foot rest.

After bike repair we filled our tanks and directly went back to hotel. The day was over and Leh was conquered :)

Day summary: Pang - Tanglang La - Upshi - Karu - Leh, 6.5 hrs, 175 km

Leh to Pangong Tso

Day 5 - 8th July

We were ready by 10 am and went to DC office for the permits. We had heard that easy way of obtaining permits is through an agent because it takes 4-5 hrs to get it done. It's not true. Office opened at 10 and we reached there at 10:20. It took only 40 min to obtain the permits and by 12:00 we left for Pangong.

We went back till Karu and from there started our ascent for Chang La. The route to Chang La was tough. It was perhaps the most difficult pass that we crossed during our whole trip. The scenery was good. Thikse village in the below picture was very beautiful.

After crossing Chang La, we stopped at a place for lunch. It was a tent and the only place we found between Chang La and Tangtse. Road to Tangtse was good and one could easily spot horses grazing in greener areas.

We reached Tangtse and submitted the permits. The person in-charge there warned us about a 'Nala' 5 km before the lake. He said don't cross the Nala if the flow is fast. We had already heard stories about this nala and were told not to cross it after 1 o'clock in the day, because snow melts and water flow increases. After hearing the same story many times, we were slightly concerned about this Nala.

We left Tangtse at 4 pm and headed for the lake. Enroute to lake we saw a lot of sand in the valley and a few times on the roads also.

Finally, we reached the Nala and stopped there. The flow was not looking much but we were not sure about the depth and the size of stones beneath the water. Nikhil decided to get an estimate of the water bed. He removed his shoes and walked into the freezing water. I wouldn't have done that :) He gave the green signal and i started to cross it. It was my luck that the rear tyre got stuck in the middle of the stream. A big stone was present there. Nikhil had to come and push me. Nikhil followed a different path and crossed it easily.

Just 2 km after this Nala, we saw the first view of the Pangong Lake. All the stress and pain was relieved from that spectacular view.

We reached the lake at 5:30 and decided to stay near the lake in a hut. The colour of the water was dark blue in the evening. We saw some people, playing cricket near the lake. What a place to play cricket!

After sunset i went for a walk around the lake. I met a Army person near the lake. He told me some facts about the lake. I couldn't believe that Pangong lake is 135 km long, 45 km in India and 90 km in China. The maximum width is 5 km and measurable depth is 700 m. In winters, the lake is completely frozen by 6-7 feet from the top. Surprisingly, it's not a fresh water lake. Pangong is a salt water lake.

Before going to sleep i took a shot of the lake in moonlight.

Day summary: Leh - Chang La - Pangong Tso, 5.5 hrs, 150 km

Pangong Lake to Leh

Day 6 - 9th July

I woke up at 4:50 am to capture the sunrise, but there were heavy clouds as if it would rain. It didn't rain but sun was visible at 5:45. By that time i clicked some shots.

After sunrise i went back to sleep till 8 o'clock. We had breakfast and went around the lake on our bikes. The scene was so beautiful that anyone would love to stay there forever. We spent some time beside the lake.

Finally, we said goodbye to Pangong and left for Leh at ~11 am. This was the first time we were going on the same route twice, so it was pretty easy. Till Chang La weather was cloudy and temperature was definitely below zero. It was the coldest day on our whole trip.

We reached Leh at 3 o'clock, and took rest for 2 hours. I looked at my new shoes, which were now in irreparable condition. I would say buying running shoes for this trip is a waste of money.

In the evening, we set out for seeing some places in Leh. We went to Shanti Stupa. There are 2 ways to reach there - 500 stairs and a road. We chose the easier one :) Shanti Stupa is an awesome place to relax and meditate. Whole of the Leh city can be seen from the top.

Coming down from the stupa, we saw Tibetian market. We went through ChangsPa Lane and did some shopping in the old market. ChangsPa lane is a happening place. It's little hard to spot Indians in this area. There are some good places to eat also. We met two of our colleagues in this area, who were also on the trip but in an Innova. We spent some time together and then went back to our hotels.

Day summary: Pangong Tso - Leh, 4.5 hrs, 150 km

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